This tutorial I'll show you my true sketching form when starting my drawings. I really like gals with a lot of spunk. They spice up the story line so this is why I chose these two girls. First, I really enjoyed doing my fav anime girls. Misaki Ayuzawa, the high school president that rules with an iron fist and strict rules comes from a fantastic anime, "Kaichou wa Maid-sama," a shojo romantic comedy that rarely shows a girl receiving physical affection from a guy (it's TV14). Then Winry Rockbell has so much spunk, is a tomboy or prosthetic mechanic. She also fires off at Edward (whom she services because he wears her automail prosthetic for his missing arm and leg) the protagonist of "Fullmetal Alchemist" Shonen anime. I love strong female characters that are vulnerable too. I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Please let me know how you feel about it by commenting, faving or clicking on "Love It." Thanks sooo much!

How to Sketch Anime Girls

STEP 1.

Sketch the two ovals, lines for eyes, and bisecting line for torso with your No.2 pencil. Please sketch lightly so you can erase later.

STEP 2.

Take your time and draw the circles and odd shapes for arms, hands, torso, hips, and legs. These shapes help with body mass and where the girls line up.

STEP 3.

Start with Misaki's face and bangs. If you feel more comfortable by sketching from the outline without the guidelines, please do so. These guidelines are a help to test the waters of drawing. Later on I'll be giving a few tips on how I see a picture and draw with minimum guidelines.

STEP 4.

Now draw Winry's face. Follow the curve of the eye guideline to give you a feel of how her eyebrows and eyes curve.

STEP 5.

Sketch in Misaki's hair and Maid's cap with ruffles.

STEP 6.

Sketch in Winry's hair and bandana lightly.

STEP 7.

This part is more detailed. If you need to see her maid uniform, ruffles, arms, and gloved hands better, refer to the liner drawing in STEP 12. Sometimes for more accuracy, a better reference is needed.

STEP 8.

Now draw in Winry's arms, torso, part of her hair and tube top. Draw lightly and don't worry of you have a lot of sketch lines. You can always erase extra sketch lines at any time.

STEP 9.

Now draw in the sword. It is okay to erase and try a few of times to get that curve on the sword.

STEP 10.

Take your time on the ruffles. If you get tired of drawing, take a break and come back refreshed to tackle with small details.

STEP 11.

Last but not least, sketch in Winry's tied shirt and jeans. Now you can erase the guidelines if you haven't already.

STEP 12.

Your drawing may look like this or you might have your own version. At this point, you can color in your picture with a medium of your choice. Otherwise, let us continue to the pencil drawing part.

STEP 13.

I didn't want to skip this. The first picture shows how to hold your pencil for Overhand (great for writing & details) and Underhand (great for shading large areas in wide strokes). You can practice tone shading and take it a step further with the Tone Exercise.

STEP 14.

Here is how the tools look. I used the 0.7mm 2B mechanical pencil, 9B pencil, tissue, and the blending stump.

STEP 15.

This is how my sketch is started with a few guidelines. There is one light sketch guideline across the girls' heads. Then I have light guidelines for their eyes. Now no one is perfect. I made tweaks and corrections in each step since there is no tracing or grid scales used. TIP: I look at the reference picture's cropped edges (square or rectangular) and sketch a similar box on my paper. Then I see where the heads, lower part of body, and sword lands. I lightly sketch and keep looking at the reference to guide me.

STEP 16.

Here I sketched in both their eyes and added ruffle details. Notice the bottom of Misaki's apron. I made a mock ribbon like area for the ruffle placement. This helps with mass accuracy.

STEP 17.

Here I added more details, then I erased the extra sketch marks and dirty areas. I took my mechanical pencil and darkened the lines. Now don't be afraid to erase certain small areas to adjust something. The more accuracy, the better the picture.

STEP 18.

I shaded the girls' skin and with the 0.7mm mechanical pencil very lightly. You can use your No.2 pencil (or HB) also. I sketched in the shading of Misaki's hair & buckle, also Winry's tube top with a 9B graphite pencil. I treated this like it was a whole picture, looking carefully at the reference for tones and likeness. You can squint your eyes to get that gradual transition of the tones. Another thing, I change any color references to black and white with my photo editing program. TIP: Don't draw small. Draw on an A4 (or 8-1/2 by 11) paper size (like typing or copy paper). I use almost all the paper to draw in the details so the shading areas are large enough.

STEP 19.

I blended their skin, outfits and added more darkness and blended again. You can tell the difference at how much darker and a bit smoother the picture is. Use the kneaded eraser to clean her apron, sash, and background.

STEP 20.

Since their eyes were so smudged and my kneaded eraser was too dirty, I cleaned up and added highlights with my photo editing program. I looked at the reference really close for their eyes. Did some eye adjustment adding eyelashes, catch lights, coloring in the eyes, and added white to the screla (white of the eyes). Here I added white highlights to the catch lights digitally. I noticed other mistakes like her apron shoulder ruffle wasn't white...so I made it white. Her cuff and maid cap ruffles were too dirty also. Now you can make your areas white with white pastel, white titanium acrylic or watercolor paint. I also blurred the sketch lines and added background in the program. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on How to Sketch Anime Girls, Misaki Ayuzawa and Winry Rockbell. Please fav, click on "Love It" or comment to let me know if you like this and how you feel. Luv n hugs to you all!

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